All Things Pretty

by M. Leighton

  Relentlessly, Sig drives me over the edge and down into oblivion. Ecstasy sweeps through me, dizzying my head, scrambling my thoughts. For a moment, I feel disoriented, wavering atop him like a compass needle that can’t find true north. Sig pulls me to him, crushing me against his chest until I find my bearings in reality again.

  When I open eyes I wasn’t aware of closing, they click to a stop on his lush brown ones. They’re inky black and vicious, fierce, like the devil himself is on his heels. He’s watching me take my pleasure, watching it overcome me. Waiting, just waiting for the moment when he will give in to his own.

  Moving his hands back down to my waist, eyes locked on mine, Sig lies back, teeth gritted, and he plants his feet on the bed, lifting his hips and ramming his cock into me over and over again until I reclaim the release that I thought had subsided.

  Finally, he grunts, a protracted growl of sorts that tells me he’s close to what he was looking for. I hold on tight, watching him, loving the way his abs contract, so tight under his strain. Before I know what’s happening, Sig’s arm is around my waist and I’m on my belly with him leaning over me. My legs are swiftly parted and he’s plunging into me from behind, bringing on a whole new flood of pleasure, pleasure that never seems to end beneath his skilled hands and body.

  Sig’s hips slap into mine so forcefully that my teeth jar in my head. But he doesn’t hurt me. If anything, the depth, the aggressiveness of his sensual assault sends electric shocks of bliss streaking through me. I wonder that he doesn’t tire. Or hurt himself. But he is as powerful in his lovemaking as he is in his body, his cock as strong and sure as the rest of him.

  I feel it when he comes. It’s as though there is nothing between us. He pulses inside me, his cadence faltering the tiniest bit as he drops forward to rest one hand on the bed beside me, his breathing as labored as mine.

  Sig withdraws from me, turning me gently so that both of us fall back onto the pillows, panting like marathon runners. I grin up at him. “When you said animal sex, you meant it, didn’t you?”

  He laughs, throwing his arm over his eyes as he rolls onto his back again. “What can I say? You bring out my…baser instincts. Protect. Possess. Devour.”

  His words send chills racing down my back. I say nothing. I don’t know what to say.

  After a few moments of silence, Sig leans up beside me, resting his weight on one elbow. He stares down into my eyes, his face full of a thousand wonders.

  “Did I hurt you?”

  “No.”

  “Scare you?”

  “God no!”

  “Please you?” he asks, his voice as quiet and coarse as black velvet.

  “Yes. Very much so.”

  When he closes his eyes, his face is wreathed with a grin that is all happy, cocky man.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR SIG

  Two hours later, my head buzzes. My fingertips throb. My eyes close. Damn. There’s nothing like this feeling–release. I’ve wanted Tommi since I saw her on the side of the road, but I never really expected…this. Holy shit! Tonight was more than I could’ve hoped for. Stronger. More potent. More satisfying.

  When I can lift my head, I look down at Tommi. Her sleepy eyes are focused on mine. I kiss the tip of her nose. “Can you stay all night?” I ask.

  She reaches up with one hand to hesitantly drag her fingertips down my cheek. It’s an almost reverent gesture that reminds me what a risk this was for her. What a huge step. What a scary step. Already, I can see the haze of satiation lifting, yielding to the harsh light of decision and the fear of consequence. “I’d love to, but I have to be there when Travis gets up.”

  “We could be there together, you know. You could invite me for breakfast and we could take Travis to school together. And then come back here for dessert.”

  “Breakfast doesn’t have dessert.”

  “Au contraire. You’ve never had breakfast with me.”

  Her smile is small. Unsure. “I’d better not risk it.

  “Risk what? Travis knows me. He likes me. I’m usually there to take him to school when I get you. I’ll just be there a little earlier this time.”

  “It’s not just that. I mean…I just think it’s not a very good idea.”

  “Is it because of the woman in the back bedroom?”

  Every drop of color drains from Tommi’s face. “I don’t know what you mean,” she says immediately, like her kneejerk reaction is to deny. But then, thinking better of it, she asks, “I mean, how did you know about her?”

  “I walked over one night. Saw the light come on as I was coming through the back yard. You were in there taking care of her. Who is she?”

  Tommi swallows. Hard. I can almost taste the panic in the air. But why? What’s the big deal? What’s the secret?

  “She’s my mother.”

  “Why do you look like you’re about to pass out then? There’s nothing wrong with you taking care of your ailing mother. I think it’s pretty damn decent of you, actually.”

  Her smile is flustered, wobbly. “Thanks. I, uh, she, um, she’s always liked her privacy. And with Travis… I just try to keep things as calm and quiet and routine as I possibly can.”

  “I get that,” I say, nodding. “And I’m not asking to meet her or anything. I’m just saying that you don’t have to hide her from me.”

  Her wide emerald eyes flicker back and forth between mine until she finally smiles again. A small smile, still, but at least it looks a little less like I just pulled a gun on her. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

  “So, what happened to her? Is she sick?”

  “She, uh, she had an accident a few years back. She hasn’t been the same since. Even if I did introduce you to her, she probably wouldn’t even know you were in the room.”

  I reach for her hand, lying tensely on my chest, and I press my lips to each fingertip before I speak. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  “She’s not gone yet.”

  “No, but watching that kind of deterioration is gut-wrenching.”

  “Is that how your mom died? Slowly?”

  “Not that slowly, not like what your mom is going through, but slow enough. It was hard to watch. Hard to wonder every day if it would be the last time I’d get to see her alive.”

  Tommi stares down at the hand I’m holding. Now, her fingers fiddling with mine, stroking each one from base to tip, methodically, almost mindlessly. “Sometimes I think it’s been best for Travis. At least she’s still sort of here. I think he gets some amount of comfort from that.”

  “Do you?” I think of the way she talked to her, like she half expected her to understand or respond.

  “Yeah, I guess I do. It’s hard to let go,” she says in a tiny voice that sounds near cracking.

  “That’s what love does to you,” I say, reiterating my earlier point.

  “But still, I wouldn’t trade having known her and loved her just because it’s hard to lose her. I have to believe that there is good love out there, the selfless kind that gives you a reason to wake up every morning.”

  “You mean like the kind you have for Travis?”

  She sighs, nearly inaudibly. I feel it more than hear it as it blows softly over the skin of my chest. “Yeah, something like that only…different.”

  “The kind you find.”

  She jerks her eyes up to mine. “What do you mean?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. Loving a family member is not really a choice. At least not for decent people. I think we’re sort of born into it, ya know? What it sounds like you’re talking about is the kind of love that you find. Or that finds you. The fairy tale kind that rips your heart out and stomps the shit out of it.”

  Her eyes crinkle at the corners. “Exactly, but minus the stomping part. I want the kind that lasts. The kind that loves you for you, not because of what you can do for it. The kind that sticks around no matter what. That kind.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find it. And I hope it doesn’t rip your heart out and stomp on it.
I’d hate to see tears running down this beautiful face.” I rub my index finger from the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth. A dimple forms just beneath my fingertip, a wry half-grin.

  “I hope so, too.” She pulls her eyes away from mine, busying herself with examining one of my knuckles like it holds the key to life. “Can you please not tell anyone that you know about Momma? I just… I don’t… It’s such a private matter. I don’t like Lance’s people knowing so much about my life. I like to keep him separate from home. As much as I can. Do you understand?”

  Oh, I understand all right. She’s telling me more than she knows. Probably more than she intends to.

  “I won’t say a word,” I tell her solemnly, sincerely. “Thank you for sharing it with me. For trusting me.”

  “Well, it kinda takes the trust out of it when you already knew,” she snorts lightly.

  “Not really. You could’ve lied. Made something up. But you didn’t.”

  She looks shyly away as she shrugs one shoulder. “I told you I wouldn’t lie to you.”

  “I’m not sure I believed you.”

  Her eyes come back to mine. “I can see how that would be the case. Trust goes both ways, I suppose.”

  “I already trust you, so get on with it! You’re holding up progress.”

  Her smile is big enough to bare teeth this time. “I am? Heaven forbid I hold up progress. The nerve!”

  I eye her narrowly. “Are you making fun of me?”

  “I wouldn’t dare.”

  Her eyes are twinkling with mischief and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen anything cuter or more appealing. Well besides her face when she moans during an orgasm. That look’ll be hard as hell to beat.

  “Did I tell you what the punishment for making fun of me is?” I ask, moving slowly out from under her.

  Folding her arms protectively over her front, she replies, “Noooo, I don’t think so.”

  “Well, let me fill you in on how that works.”

  The last thing I hear before I smother her mouth with mine is a squeal.

  ********

  I jolt awake when I hear the little ziiip noise of a text being sent. I find Tommi standing near the door, holding her jeans in one hand and her phone in the other.

  “What’re you doing?” I ask groggily.

  “Texting Lance.”

  A discomfort registers in my chest. A spike of jealousy. Irritated, I push it away. I have nothing to be jealous over. Lance is an obligation, a means to an end that I know nothing of. She’s here with me because she wants to be, because she couldn’t stay away.

  But still, I don’t like her talking to Lance. Or texting him. Or thinking about him. I don’t like it at all.

  “I’d told him that if I couldn’t make the party that I’d be there by ten tomorrow unless I wasn’t feeling better.”

  “So what did you tell him?”

  “That I’d see him by ten.”

  Another spike, this one of irritation. Mixed with jealousy. Dammit.

  “Why didn’t you tell him you still weren’t feeling good? We could’ve spent the day together tomorrow.”

  “I don’t want to make him suspicious.”

  She’s very matter of fact about seeing him tomorrow. I mean, who the hell knows what he might have planned? He could have an orgy on the books. And I’ll have to drop her off at it.

  She climbs back onto the bed, but not in it, like she’s planning on staying. I don’t want her to go yet. I feel a bizarre need to keep her here until I’m the only concern she has, until I’m the only one she can think about. Like I’m branding her and blinding her to all others.

  My hands streak out like flashes of lightning in the dark. They wrap around her ankles and tug until she’s stretched out on the bed beside me, still naked as a jaybird. She screeches her surprise.

  “I didn’t tell you everything before,” I admit.

  “You didn’t?”

  “Nope,” I say, pulling her arms out to her sides. “I didn’t tell you that there’s more.” I nuzzle the soft spot under her ear with my nose.

  “More? More of what?”

  “More of me. More to me. More than just the animal part.”

  “There is?” she asks, her voice dreamy as she arches her neck.

  “Mmmm, much more. Did you know I can be gentle?” I ask, my whisper as much a part of the wind as the touch I place on her cheek. “So gentle.” To prove my point, I drag my fingertips across her chin and down her chest, circling each nipple with a caress that’s feather light. I feel her shiver in response, her body already attuned to my touch and oh-so-ready to respond. “And I can go slow. So slow.”

  I bend my head to lap at each tight peak with long, leisurely swipes of my tongue, like a cat washing its fur. “I can worship your body like no one has ever worshipped it before. Every dip,” I say, spreading butterfly kisses over the curve of her waist. “Every dent.” I swirl my tongue in her navel, causing her to arch her back. I can almost feel the way she’d clench my finger if it were inside her. But all things in due time. And this time, right now, is for slow. “Every hot, wet crevice,” I say, nudging her legs apart with the slightest of pressures. I spread the folds of her pussy and put my mouth as close as I can get to her without actually kissing her, close enough that she can feel the heat of my breath and the tickle of my lips. “Can I show you?” I ask, enjoying the way her hips tilt toward me.

  Her breathless moan is all the answer I need.

  ********

  My sleep schedule is still jacked from all the different shifts I’ve been working until recently. I guess I’ve gotten in the habit of catching a few hours here and there and making do with very little in the way of good sleep. Tonight is no different, only it actually comes in handy this time.

  Just before daylight, my eyes flick open. They go first to the still form of the woman next to me. My cock reacts immediately. Hell, I never thought I’d be as horny at the ripe old age of twenty-five as I was during high school, but damn! Tommi’s making my dick feel like a kid again.

  As easily as I can, I drape my arm over Tommi’s waist and pull her back into me, spooning her from behind. The feel of her sweet little ass pressed up tight against my cock does nothing to calm the blood flow southward. I bury my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent that’s so uniquely hers. I make a mental note to ask her what kind of perfume she wears.

  She stirs, which is fine by me, stretching against me and basically begging my cock to settle in between her cheeks. I reach around and cup her knee with my hand, bringing her leg up and over mine. I slide my fingers up the inside of her thigh until I reach the short-shaved lips that are spread just enough for me to find her wet and ready.

  “Oh god!” I groan, rubbing my fingertip in the moisture and then gliding it over her firm clit. “Do you always wake up ready?”

  “I don’t know,” she says huskily, her hand gripping my forearm. “I always wake up alone.”

  I clench my teeth. I couldn’t have asked for a better answer. This is just for me. No memory of anyone else, nothing to look forward to. Just all for me.

  “Well, I’d hate for it to go to waste. That would be such a shame.”

  I massage her nub before I cruise down her slit and push a finger deep inside her. She tightens around me. “You’re addictive, did you know that?” she whispers.

  “Funny,” I tell her as I roll her onto her back. “That’s exactly what I was thinking about you.”

  An hour later, I’m watching Tommi pull off down the street. An hour and a half after that, I’m pulling up in her driveway, anxious as hell to see her again.

  As is their habit, Travis comes out first, slinking down the steps with his hood pulled up. Tommi follows, tugging the door shut and then checking the knob. I’m more than a little surprised by what she’s wearing. Jeans that are faded in the ass and snug in just the right places cover her long legs, and a sexy little gray zip-up sweater hides tits that I know to be lush and respons
ive. Her hair is in a messy clump on top of her head. She looks like she just rolled out of my bed. Which she practically did. It makes my whole body groan just looking at her, being reminded. Like I’d forget so soon.

  Not likely

  She turns toward me, meeting my eyes immediately. Her lips spread into a controlled smile that makes me think she’d smile bigger if she weren’t hiding a delicious secret– our night together. I watch her walk all the way to the truck.

  “How’s it hangin’, lil man?” I ask Travis as he climbs into the back seat. He mumbles something I can’t understand, but I don’t ask him to repeat it. I’m totally focused on the blonde scooting into the passenger seat. “Mornin’.”

  “Good morning,” she says primly, reaching for her seatbelt. “You won’t have to take me to Lance’s today. He had to go out of town and won’t be back until Sunday.”

  Lance is gone. Until Sunday. Today is Friday. Two full days. And two long, full nights.

  After she clicks the belt closed, she meets my eyes again. There’s a devilish sparkle in them that makes me want to call a cab for Travis and haul her tasty ass right back to my house. Pronto!

  “I wondered why you were dressed like that,” Travis says from behind me.

  “While the cat’s away, the mice will play,” I quip, sliding my eyes to Tommi.

  Her cheeks are rosy with a blush and her response is so quiet that I’m the only one who can hear. “Yes, they will.”

  Being the son of a cop and, now, myself a cop, I obey the speed limit. Always have. Today, however, I violate it at least three times that I know of in my hurry to get Travis to school. Tommi’s worth a ticket. In fact, she’s worth several.